Improvement in cotton-pickers



. in whichvUisfrrieo STATES Fierce@ PATENT B.v e. sHiEgLDs',oF MARLLN, Texas.'

Speciticationforming part of Letters Patent No. 15,7465 dated September 16, 1856.

,To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN G. SnIELDs,. of Marlin, in the county ot'v Falls and State oi'- TeXaS, have invented certain new and` uselul Improvements in Hand-Machines for Gather ling-Cotton in the'Field; and I dohereby declare the following to be a'fnll, clear, and exact description/ot the construction and operation of the'same, reference being had to the accompanying drawingmmaking a part thereof',

Figorel represents a side View ot the ma chine.v Fig.'2 represents a vertical central and longitudinaisection through the same. Y

Where similar letters of `refe'reiu'ze-oeenr. in# the separate figures thevdenote the same parts ofthe machine.'

Letters-v Patent ot theUnited States were granted to George A. Howeon the Ithfday of December, 1,855, for a hand-machine for pickjng cotton in the field. In Vactualpractice Howes machine fails, to certain extent, to take the cotton from the ,gathering-chain.. His

stripper was designed to knock the cotton from l beingfon the shaft l,may he above, below, or4 behind `itt-,and 'driven by' the chain or by anlother gear, pinio,or ,belt; but these mo'dti- .cationsare obvios,and l would consider any the teeth of the chain, bulli in doing this the stripper itself becomes entangled with the ber, and the machineclogs-up'.`

My invention aims at overcoming this defeet in Howes machine, and I have success# fully accomplished it by' the4 hereinaftende-,

scribedmeans.` a The nature of my invention consists 1n the use of a fan wheel or wheels in connection .with

a gathering-chain for taking the fiber from "the teeth of the chain.

To enable others skilled in the art to mak and use my invention, I-will proceed to ilescribe thesa'me with reference to thel drawings.

' A A represent two metallic or other tubes,` arranged one over the other, andunited at their rear ends by ametallic case,l:.y In front ofthe tubes a smallpn'lley, a, is arranged, and ivithin-the case B'another'pulley `or drum, b, is soixed-as that an endless gatheringchaim G, shall run over said pulleys and- 'pass through thetubes A.

0n the Outside' of the casel isplaced-a cogged wheel,D,'havingacrank,E, a-fxed t'oit. l

This cogged wheel D takes into and turns a pinion, F, arranged on the axis c of the drum armed.with teethvi'hich take into the links of the chain G, an'd cause-itto run steadily without slipping.4 Upon the pulley-shaft b are also pplacedtwo sets of'broad arms or fan-wheels,

G, (one on each sidevof'the chain, one only being seen in the seetion,) which rotate in the direction ofthe motion ot' the chain and create atblast of air that blows the fiber from' the Ateeth of the'gathering-chain. The blast created by th'fanfbiowers is'in the'directionof'thejin 'clination of the teeth vof the chain, and as the locks ot`=cott`on approach on the-chain the arms oftheblower knock it ott' .by a blow from be"- hind, andtheblast facilitavtes'and completes the delivery.

`It is obvious that the machine-can he duplicated without changing its character, each additional chain', after the first one,only` requin l ing one additional fan, and the fans, instead of 4machine that take-s the ber from the teeth by a fan arranged at ornear the. point ofdelivey as involving' my invention or improvement.

A bag/or. receiver' 'of' any kind maybe at-y taehed to `the rear oilthe machine toreceive the gathered cotton.

Having thus fully-.described the'nature of' r my invention, what lI claim as an improvement rlhe application ot' a fan or fans to the gathering-chain as a means of retrieving 'the gatheredeotton from said chain; and this I claim whether said fansbe used as herein set fiorth` or in any other waysubstantially the Same.

- BELYIJAMIN Gr. SHIELDS. Witnesses: A. B. SroUGHrroN, a.

G. W.-FoTBUasr. 

